baccharisbacchanal's Favorites

Flowering native thistle growing at the edge of a receding vernal pool (Twin Ponds).

Short-styled Thistle (Cirsium brevistylum) A.k.a. Indian Thistle. It is a native, plume thistle in the Sunflowers, Daisies, Asters (Asteraceae) family that grows 3--35 dm (up to 11 ft) tall in coastal Calfornia counties. It is generally cobwebby to densely tomentose, especially proximal to the flower heads. Flower heads range in color from white to purple. The most characteristic feature of this thistle is its leaves, which immediately subtend and sometimes surround the flower head. Peak bloom time: March-August.
Short-styed Thistle grows in a wide range of habitats: "coastal meadows, marshes, swamps, riparian woodlands, moist sites in coastal scrub, chaparral, coastal woodlands, mixed conifer-hardwood forests, and coniferous forests"

Flora of North America http://beta.floranorthamerica.org/Cirsium_brevistylum

Calflora (includes species distribution map in CA): https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=2119

Link to my favorite observation of Short-styled thistle flowering: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/188975251

Jepson eFlora: Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=2110

Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, pp. 59-60.

Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 25.

Monterey County Wildflowers https://montereywildflowers.com/asteraceae-thistle-cirsium/

Flora of Fort Ord: Monterey County, California, David Styer, 2019, p. 37.

Thistles (non-native): https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/cwarneke/61995-thistles-with-white-in-their-leaves

I don’t think it’s Kurabyashii. To me it’s either T. Chloropetalum or T. Albidum but I can‘t tell if it’s T. Albidum because no stamens are visible (them being purple or not is how I’d tell). Flower sessile against the leaves. Occurring with pacific trillium, nuttals toothworth. Some lilies, spring beauty, and some rushes, vine maple, and osoberry. Formerly a Doug fir and big-leaf maple forest with some madrone and a sparse few white oak mixed in, now clearcut, and soon to be turned into hazelnut fields according to the neighbor and some locals. These were being ‘salvaged’ by a few locals who live nearby with the property owners permission.